Express.co.uk relies on cookies to collect and process data. We may use this data to make assumptions on what
content or advertising may interest you.
By clicking "Continue and Accept All", you agree to allow cookies to be
placed. You can decline these settings .
To get more information about these cookies and the processing of your personal data, check our
Privacy Policy &
Cookie Policy.

IF you’d told me a couple of days ago that I would be praising Tom Watson for moral leadership I’d have thought you mad.

It’s not just that politically I am poles apart from the deputy leader of the Labour Party. I have also attacked him on this very page for his behaviour in using parliamentary privilege to spread entirely fictitious allegations of child abuse against decent and upstanding people.

But from today I will stand on the barricades with Mr Watson. Because some things matter above all else - and standing up to racism is one.

This past weekend Mr Watson has done just that.

On Sunday he spoke out against the anti-Semitic swamp in which the Labour Party now swims.

As he put it: “This is one of those moments when we have to take a long, hard look at ourselves, stand up for what is right and present the party as fit to lead the nation – or disappear into a vortex of eternal shame and embarrassment.”

Related articles

It’s not simply that with every passing day some new example emerges of Labour anti-Semitism but that under Jeremy Corbyn the party is going out of its way to make things worse.

Take a minor but telling example.

On Friday Mr Corbyn published an article which was said to be an attempt to close the issue down.

As it happens the piece did nothing of the sort, merely repeating the same platitudes about his supposed hatred of anti-Semitism – incredibly, almost copying word for word large chunks of an earlier piece he had written in April.

Before it appeared Mr Corbyn’s office asked Jewish community representatives if it would be insensitive to release it on Friday late afternoon, just before the Jewish Sabbath. The Jewish leaders replied that it would be “an act of tremendous bad faith”.

So what did he do? Released it then. The contempt in which the Jewish community is held by Mr Corbyn and his team could hardly have been more clearly shown.

As Tom Watson made clear, in singling out for disciplinary action two MPs who have complained about the party’s refusal to stamp out anti-Semitism, Dame Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin, but failing to act against thousands of examples of anti-Semitism that have been sent to the party, there can be no doubt about where Labour now is.

As if to confirm that, the response to Mr Watson’s remarks has been truly shocking. For speaking out against Labour’s failure to tackle race hate he has now become the subject of a concerted hate campaign by Corbynite foot soldiers on social media, using the hashtag resignWatson.

And not a word of condemnation of this from Mr Corbyn.

Of course Labour is now a party where morality is inverted.

Under Jeremy Corbyn those who campaign against racism – specifically anti-Semitism – are the enemy and those who enable it – the leadership – are lauded as heroes to be defended using any available means.

This is not about disagreement with Labour’s policies.

Things have moved far beyond normal political debate.

Labour is quite deliberately injecting a poison into our politics.

Jeremy Corbyn will have been Labour leader for three years next month.

He has had all the time in the world to show that he believes this has got out of hand and wants to rein things in.

But he has instead repeatedly poisoned the well still more.

Last week, for example, attention was focused on his role as chairman of a meeting entitled From Auschwitz To Gaza, on comments he made on his Iranian Press TV programme in which he lauded convicted Hamas terrorists as “brothers” and on his position as UK Convenor for the Just World Trust, which defended the French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy. This was not an unusual week – there are revelations such as this almost daily.

Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour leadership election

Jeremy Corbyn MP (R) hugs Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell after being announced as the leader of the Labour Party on the eve of the party's annual conference at the ACC on September 24, 2016

Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn celebrates his victory following the announcement of the winner in the Labour leadership contest between him and Owen Smith at the ACC Liverpool.

PA

British opposition Labour party Leader Jeremy Corbyn (C) sits in the audience ahead of the Labour leadership announcement, during the Labour Party Leadership Conference in Liverpool on September 24, 2016

AFP/Getty Images

British opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks after being announced as the winner of the party's leadership contest at the Labour Party Leadership Conference in Liverpool on September 24, 2016

AFP/Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn MP (R) shakes hands with Owen Smith MP as they arrive to hear the result fpor the new the leader of the Labour Party, on the eve of the party's annual conference at the ACC on September 24, 2016

Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn MP waves to supporters after being announced as the leader of the Labour Party on the eve of the party's annual conference at the ACC on September 24, 2016

Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn MP waves to supporters after being announced as the leader of the Labour Party on the eve of the party's annual conference at the ACC on September 24, 2016

Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn MP waves to supporters after being announced as the leader of the Labour Party on the eve of the party's annual conference at the ACC on September 24, 2016

Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn MP (L) shakes hands with Owen Smith MP after being announced as the leader of the Labour Party on the eve of the party's annual conference at the ACC on September 24, 2016

Getty Images

The leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, speaks after the announcement of his victory in the party's leadership election, in Liverpool, Britain September 24, 2016

REUTERS

The leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, speaks after the announcement of his victory in the party's leadership election, in Liverpool, Britain September 24, 2016

REUTERS

Labour leadership candidate, Owen Smith (L), and party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, walk onto the stage before the announcement of the result of the Labour Party leadership election, in Liverpool, Britain September 24, 2016

REUTERS

But not once has Mr Corbyn considered it necessary to apologise.

When he did once issue an apology (for the From Auschwitz To Gaza meeting) it was merely that classic political non-apology for any “concerns and anxiety caused”.

Indeed, instead of offering any self-reflection over his actions, he has doubled down as he did over the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, which he outright refuses to implement in full.

It is impossible to see how any of this will change.

In one sense it is admirable of those moderates whose mantra is "stay and fight".

But they have lost.

The problem is not just Mr Corbyn but the hate he has unleashed.

Momentum and the hard-Left are ensconced.

The issue is what happens next.

Members of the Jewish community hold a protest against Jeremy Corbyn (Image: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty)

Labour is no longer a respectable mainstream party and membership of it taints those who remain.

Campaigning for a Labour government means campaigning to put an extremist, racist party in power.

In that sense the decision is made.

No moderate can remain.

The only question now is when they leave, not whether.

The disciplinary action against Dame Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin shows how the leadership will act.

They will pick off decent MPs one by one as they did with John Woodcock, who faced spurious disciplinary charges because he was an enemy of the Corbynites.

He now sits as an independent MP.

The moderates should go on the attack and resign en masse to form a new bloc in Parliament: Real Labour.

And one man now has the moral stature to lead this mass resignation: Tom Watson.